The big data opportunity – access to a data expert who can help your business grow

The Cluster 2020 project is trailing and testing new formats for helping businesses engage with data in order to develop new business insights. We are now looking for eight companies who would benefit from 2 – 4 days of FREE data expert advice.

We recently launched, as part of the Cluster 2020 offer, the opportunity for creative and digital businesses to work with a data expert who will help them engage with data (their own data, open data and commercial data etc.) in a way that develops competitive advantage for the business – please see examples in the ‘am I eligible’ section below.

The process

· Each participating company will be assigned an expert;

· The expert will spend half a day with the business to find out more about what they do and how they might be helped by data. As part of this session they will also agree desirable outcomes for the business;

· The data experts will search for examples of sources of data that might be useful, complete the work required to achieve the outcomes, and prepare a brief presentation/report for the business;

· The experts and businesses will take part in a one day mini-lab between 18 – 20 June 2013 where the data experts will present their initial findings and seek feedback, and all delegates will have the opportunity to participate in round table discussions and one-to-one workshops (where applicable);

· The data experts will further develop and complete the work required to achieve the outcomes;

· At the end of the process the business will have access to a personalised report detailing the outcomes (this may be done via a second mini-lab activity).

Am I eligible?

It is not essential to have a fully thought-through idea as this could be developed through the mini-lab activity, but you should have the start of an idea that is relevant to your business and which would benefit from data exploration. The aim of the project is to create eight case studies that highlight a diversity of uses and value to the businesses involved. These uses might be geographic, sector or theme-based. For example, using data…

· For better business planning, allowing business owners to look more broadly as market opportunities;